The company was founded in 2022 and is based in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima prefecture.
A trial partner calls it “a car that makes driving fun”
The EV that KG Motors is developing is called the mibot. It seats one, has a top speed of 60kph (about 37mph) and a range of 100km (about 62 miles).
Those specifications are very close to those of the Lean3, made by Lean Mobility, which this publication covered in June. The Lean3, though, is a three-wheeler that leans into corners much as a motorcycle does, whereas KG Motors’ mibot runs on four wheels. Which of the two feels better at the wheel will come down to personal preference.
Air-conditioning keeps the single-seat cabin habitable, and as a connected car the mibot can be updated to the latest software as it is released. Another notable feature is the rear luggage space, which the company says offers ample room for two 18-litre kerosene cans.
KG Motors has long made a practice of documenting the mibot’s development as it goes on YouTube.
In June the company also published the results of a proof-of-concept trial in which the mibot served as a sales-call vehicle for The Chugoku Bank and Chugin Capital Partners. Among staff who actually used the mibot in their work, 86% agreed that it could complement the bank’s existing sales vehicles—that is, that they could run it alongside the cars they use now. Yasunori Saimyoji, director and senior managing executive officer of the Chugoku Bank, which took part in the trial, said that on test-driving the mibot he had found the view out wider and the ride more comfortable than its compact looks had led him to expect, calling it “a car that makes driving fun”.
“We have entered the stage of putting vehicles on the market”, says the CEO
The September round drew Chugin Capital Partners, mentioned above; NTT DOCOMO Ventures, the corporate venture-capital arm of NTT DOCOMO; and Mitsuba Corporation, a car-parts maker, among others. Individual investors also took part.
The company lists the following uses for the money:
- Investment centred on tooling, to expand production capacity
- Improving quality and productivity in initial production
- Opening up the market through trials and early deployments
- Continued development of software functions, starting with over-the-air updates and remote diagnostics
Kazunari Kusunoki, KG Motors’ chief executive, commented as follows.
“The mibot has moved beyond the stage of concept and development alone: we have entered the stage of sending real vehicles out into the market and testing their value there. What we take on from here is producing more mibots and delivering them to the people who have been waiting. At the same time, as people actually use them, we will work out which mobility problems the vehicle can solve, and make certain of the markets where it is needed.”
